The Panthers already thin at goaltending received more bad news Sunday as General Manager Dale Tallon announced that backup goalie Scott Clemmensen underwent arthroscopic knee surgery last week.

Clemmensen who turned 36 in July is coming off one of the worst seasons of his 11-year career that also began with a knee operation in the preseason. He finished with a 3-7-2 mark and a lofty 3.67 goals-against-average. He injured the knee while training last month but could be back by the season opener on Oct. 3.

The starting job is Jacob Markstrom's but the 23-year-old Swede is coming off an inconsistent season in which he went 8-14-1 with a 3.22 GAA.

Tallon said he will be shopping for a veteran free-agent goalie but there is no indication that the Panthers are considering bringing back veteran free agent Jose Theodore 36 who's still available and lives in the area.

"There will be a lot of transactions during this training camp'' Tallon said between periods of the Panthers-Lightning rookie game Sunday afternoon at Savelogy.com Iceplex. "We're looking at every possibility the waiver wire trades free agents whatever we can do to improve.''

Tallon praised young goalies Michael Houser a free-agent signing last summer and Rob Madore a former University of Vermont standout who played parts of two rookie games on a tryout basis. Madore 25 notched 18 saves without allowing a goal in relief of Houser in Saturday's 5-4 win over the Bruins.

Houser 20 bounced back with 30 saves in Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Lightning and that included a sterling stop on a breakaway by Jonathan Drouin the overall No. 3 pick of the draft behind Panthers center Aleksander Barkov.

"Better than yesterday that's for sure'' laughed Houser. "Overall it was clicking tonight for me. ... I'm excited this is the first chance I've had to go to an NHL camp. I'm looking forward to the opportunity of skating with the big guys out there and see how I can compete.''